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JAN 13 iggj 

THE CLOSING ARGUMENT X^;^,^^^^ 



IlEUALF OF THK 



BUNKER Hill Mosument Association 



AT THE rlMI.IC IIEAKISC. HE 



£|,t pusov aiA Slattmti. of aljivtltstown, 

THE NEW AVENUE TO" THE MONUMENT. 

BY 

(}. WASHINGTON WAEHEN, ESQ, 



MOSUMESTUM PEnESSlUS XRE. 
QU.T.RI8 MOSUMENTUM CIRCOMSPICE. 



BOSTON: 
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT ASSOCIATION. 






^rP€^^-^'/j3^^:S-~ 



By 
JAN 16 1916 



To 



§nnhti Dill 

MEMORIAL OF 
rHE COUNTRY 
AND OF THE 



AMERICAN 
EVOLUTION ; 



AND AN 

INSTRUCTOR OF 

EACIISUCCBEDINC 

GENERATION, — 

.HAVE ASHED 

THAT THIS 



ACCOMPLISHED, 

THIS IMPERISHABLE 
ISK MAY MORE 
GENERALLY IMPRESS 
THE POPULAR MIND, 
AND MORE FULLY 

EXPECTATIONS OF 

THIS PUBLICATION, 



INTliOUUCTORY. 



Tiiu petitions of Sajiuei. S. Wii.lson aiul fifty others, of 
Jamks F. ITuxnewki.l and others, of Isaac Sweetseu and otliers, 
of GiDEOx IIaynes and others (besides other petitions), all in aid 
of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, for an avenue, sixty 
feet wide, from the City Square direct to the moriunicnt, have for 
several months been before the Mayor and Aldermen of Charles- 
town. The |)ctitioners asked for a public hearing before the whole 
Board, which was readily granted. On the I'lth of October, 
Samuel S. Willson, Esq., counsel for the petitioners, opened 
the case, and a ]>ortion of the testimony was introduced, and the 
plans and estimates presented. The meeting was then adjourned 
to the 19th of October, to be held in the chamber of the Common 
Council. At this hearing, other testimony was offered on behalf 
of the petitionei-s, and Wilmam \V. Wheildon, Esq., made his 
Argument on behalf of the Association. 

At the conclusion of liis able and exhaustive argument upon his 
branch of the subject, the Board were reminded that this was the 
anniversary of the surrender at Yohktown, which secured to 
BuxKEK Hill an undying fame; and that it was a fit occasion for 
them to entertain the proposal to open this avenue, so as to make 
its MATCHLESS memouial more conspicuous and impressive. 

Some of the parlies whose land will be taken by this avenue, 
and otiier citizens induced by them, having sent in iheii- reniou- 



D INTRODUCTORY. 

strances, and asked for a hearing, public notice was given by the 
Board, by advertisement in the city newspapers, that all wlio 
wished to remonstrate against this measure would be heard on the 
26th of October. On that evening, and at the adjourned meeting 
on the 8th of November instant, the remonstrants appeared, and 
put in their evidence. The lawyers of Charlestown having gener- 
ally signed the petition, the remonstrants selected a non-resident 
for their counsel, who made the most out of the case, probably to 
the satisfiiction of those who employed him. The tenor of his ar- 
gument can be judged by the allusions herein made to it, and only 
made as the supreme importance of the case required. 

Tlie closing argument was made by the President of the Associa- 
tion on the 22d instant. The ground having been thoroughly 
gone over, it has been thought best to place in a permanent form 
the efforts made in this behalf, that the Board and the committee 
may be assisted in their labors, and that the public may under- 
stand the progi'ess which the measure has reached, and may pre- 
pare to urge on or approve the favorable decision. 

If by any mischance the avenue should not be authorized by the 
present Board, on account of the approaching end of their official 
term, what is herein contained will be in readiness for the con- 
sideration of the next Board. It is generally admitted that the 
avenue nnist some time be made. Economy and public convenience 
demand it now. Should this demand be acceded to, .and the work 
be promptly and considerately done, the seventeenth of June, 

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE, will attCSt itS absolutC 

necessity, and find the avenue to a great extent appropriately built 
ujjon. 

7 Monument Sijuakk, Nov. ao, ISIi'.l. 



ARGUMENT 

OF 

G. AVASHINGTON AVARREN, 

PRESIDENT OF TUE ASSOCIATION. 



MK 



WAHUEN'S ARGUMENT. 



M.VV ir PMCASK VOUK IIONOI. AN» THK HoAKI. OK A,.I.KUMKN:- 

TiiE evenings you have devoted to the hearing on 
this petition, and the close attention you have paid to 
parties and witnesses, evince your appreciation of the 
supreme importance of the case. The city of Charles- 
town has adopted for its city-seal a view of the Bunker 
Hill Monument, with the motto, " Liberty,- a trust to 
be transmitted to posterity." Every official document 
bearing that superb iuipress is an admission that tins 
monument is your chief boast and glory ; and, there- 
fore, that the special trust is imposed on you to cherish 
and inculcate those principles which it was erected to 
perpetuate. If the songs of a people have, as it has 
been suggested, more inlluence upon them than their 
laws, how much more will this majestic national moun- 
nient serve to elevate the tone of sentiment, and raise 
the standar.1 of the mark of high calling of American 
citizens, when it shall be brought out into daily view. 

Monuments and memorials are erected to be seen, 
and shovdd always be so placed as to catch the eye 



10 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

from every possible point, so as to vividly impress the 
largest number. So it is in Baltimore, where the Bat- 
tle Monument and the Washington are so conspicu- 
ously placed, at the head centres of long avenues, that 
both, and more especially the Washington, is seen in 
full length from so many opposite and distant points 
that its image is multiplied. Hence Baltimore is, by 
general consent, called the " Monumental City." 

The Bonaparte Monument, in Place Vendome, at the 
head of Rue de la Paix (Street of Peace, — -'The Empire 
is Peace "), is the distinguishing feature of Paris. Made 
of bronze cast from the cannon captured by Napoleon 
in his celebrated battles, in imitation of the Trajan Col- 
umn at Rome, it has had a wonderful influence upon 
the people of Paris ; and Paris is Prance. When Louis 
Napoleon was inaugurated as President of the French 
Republic, as, at the head of the array, he rode, in the 
grand pi^ocession, by that idolized trophy, he gracefully 
uncovered, and made his obeisance, in presence of the 
army and the populace, before the statue of Bonaparte 
which surmounted the column. If the effect of that 
imperial monument, and the popular associations con- 
nected with it, has been to aid in bringing back the 
empire and the Bonaparte dynasty, how much, think 
you, will the Bunker Hill Monument, when more fxvor- 
ably placed, have upon this community in all coming 
time ? 

All the monuments in European cities have spacious 
avenues leading to them ; and it is to the discredit and 
great loss of this municipality, that this, the grandest 



Mil. WAlUiEN'S AltCrUMEXT. I 1 

luonuiuent in tlu' world, aad erected to the noblest 
cause, has been sullered hitherto to be in the poorest 
position in reference to the public streets and ways. 

The Bunker Ilill Monument Association erected the 
monument on its a|)[)ropriate site. It remains for you 
to open to it a wide and suitable avenue. You ;done 
can do it. Now is the golden opportunity. The duty 
and the interest of the city alike enjoin it upon you. 

By the city charter, all the power which formerly 
belonged to the people of Charlestown and their offi- 
cers is now devolved upon the two branches of the 
City Council. The charter superadds greater author- 
ity. The official oath which the members are required 
to take does not merely exact of them that they shall 
be honest and diligent. It is supposed, as a matter of 
course, in deference to the judgment of the people, that 
none but such men will be elected. It means, more- 
over, that the meml)ers shall provide for the public wel- 
fare, looking forward to future exigencies and needs; 
and that, in considering the plans proposed, they will 
decide without fear or favor, always preferring the great 
public benefit to the temporary inconvenience of the 
citizen. The city is eternal: the family estate is as 
transient as a human life. 

Full and summary authority is given to this Board, 
subject to the concurrence of the Common Council, to lay 
out streets and way.s. The right of eminent domain is 
vested in yon for this purpose ; and the land-owner is 
limited to one year, within which he may appeal from 
your award of damages. 



12 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

By the eighth section of the city charter, the City 
Council has " the care and superintendence of the city 
buildings, with the power to let, or to sell what may be 
legally sold, and to purchase property, real or personal, 
in the name and for the use of the city, whenever its 
interest or convenience may in their judgment I'e- 
quire it." 

This is authority not given to towns. By it, when 
you have laid out a street where it ought to be, you 
can negotiate ; you can buy on the line of the street 
and in the rear ; 30U can re-lot and sell, with such con- 
ditions as to building and u.se as the public interests 
may require. You can make terms before and after you 
award damages. You can make the mayor a street- 
commissioner, and clothe him with full authority. This 
last provision, peculiar to our city charter, must have 
been inserted because Charlestown, more than other 
places, needed to be laid out anew. 

In addition came, at last, the betterment law. 
Under the operation of such a law, New York laid the 
foundations of her prosperity. Boston struggled in tbe 
Legislature for it many years, and did not succeed in 
obtaining it until 1861. Charlestown secured the ben- 
efit of it in 1867 ; and now, by general law, any town 
or city in the State may have it. Though tardy in its 
enactment, the law has come opportunely for the press- 
ing necessities of Boston. By a liberal and yet neces- 
sary use of its provisions, Boston has made vast 
improvements in her streets, which have resulted in 
great public convenience, and in a wonderful enhance- 



Mlt. WAI'.UKNS AROUMKNT. ]3 

nient of values. Within the hist year, there has been 
an appreciation of real estate to the amount of $40,- 
000,000, or nearly twice the whole real valuation of 
Charlestown. 

Under these three methods combined, — the right to 
lay out streets under the charter, the right to buy and 
sell real estate as the public interest and convenience 
may require, and under the betterment law, your 
power is absolute. 

Commensurate with your power, so greatly enlarged, 
is your duty. A glance at your situation shows the 
magnitude of this trust resting upon you. Let us now 
see where we are, and the conditions of our growth. 

Twenty-five years ago, the population of the town 
of Charlestown was scarcely 12,000. It is now 30,000, 
— an increase of a hundred and fifty per cent. By 
the same ratio, in twenty-five years from now the 
population will be 75,000; in fifty years, 187,500, — 
perhaps the ultimate limit of tlie capacity of our terri- 
tory, as lar as we can nt)w understand the possible 
means of aggregation ; but we do not know. Boston 
has within its increased limits about five times the 
inhabitants who occupied the same territory half a 
century ago ; and in another half-century there will be 
a million of people living within her present limits. 
The same ratio of increase has obtained in the places 
on the other side of u.s, — in Somerville, in Maiden, in 
Chelsea, and in the towns beyond those. There is no 
ground to prognosticate a diminution in the immediate 



14 MR. warren's argument. 

future. A four-years' war has not caused any. There 
is no probability of another war of that magnitude 
for the next fifty years. The teeming soil of our wide- 
extended land, the constantly improving arts of 
husbandry, and rapid and cheap transportation, assure 
us there will be no famine; and if our municipal 
authorities will exercise a wise forecast in the laying-out 
of streets, there will be no pestilence. Consider that, 
up to within a few years, Charlestovvn was fettered by 
tolls on the bridges to Boston, to Maiden, and till now to 
Chelsea, and henceforth the avenues connecting all 
these places are to be free, and you may judge 
whether there will be any falling-off in this progressive 
inci'ease. The problem for you is to make preparation 
for it. 

Monument Square occupies a central position in our 
territory. It commanded till recently a fine view of 
city, water, and country. But buildings, three and four 
stories high, are shutting out the beautiful panorama. 
Owing to the forecast of the last Board, Monument Street 
is extended to Medford Street ; and, through that precious 
vista of fifty feet, a glimpse of the Mystic River, with a 
passage for the northern breeze, is secured for all 
time. On the south side, all the streets leading up the 
hill are narrow, steep, and winding, and obstructed by 
buildings on other streets at their lower termini. If 
you consider Monument Avenue an exception to any 
part of this description, although straight, it is of 
insufficient width ; and it is blocked up at the opposite 



MR. \vaui;i;n s augumknt. 



.side of Main Street. In view of the immediate future, 
this sixtj-feet avenue direct to City Square, and across 
the Bridfre Avenue to Charles River, is a necessity for 
the hmjfs of tlie city. This opening, 1.200 feet long, is 
all that is re([uircd to biscsct our territory, and leave a 
free space from river to river. 

But witne.s.«es have l)een brought before you who 
say they do not see the need of this avenue ; though, 
for the most part, they haye the good taste to admit 
that it would be a fine thing in an artistic point of 
view. Mr. ]Mayor. a quarter of a century ago, a large 
and respectable pai-t of Boston were ready to give in 
their affidavits that tiie wells and springs of their city 
contained good water, and a suflicient supply. The 
Jamaica Pond Corporation would have contracted to 
supply for an indefinite period all the inhabitants who 
might be short of water. The Cochituate Water-Works 
have been completed and put in use e.Kactl\' twenty- 
one years; and now that l)eautiful lake, with all its 
tril)utarv sources, is not sulheient for Roston. 

I doubt, if at the tinu'. the City Council of 
Charlestown would have passed an order in advance, 
appropriating the sum of three thou.sand dollars for a 
scientific survey and report upon supplying this city 
with pure water. They would have .said, they could 
not .see the necessity of appropriating so much money 
at the present time, when other things were wanted, — 
a stereotyped remark. But Mayor Dana, on his own 
responsibility, and by his official authority, .solely unre- 
stricted by the charter and amendments, ordered it to 



16 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 



be done ; and to that able and comprehensive report 
of Messrs. Baldwin and Stevenson, and the consequent 
efforts of the City Council inspired by it, are we 
indebted for that inestimable boon and unappreciable 
property, — the Mystic Water- Works. 

So much for the short-sighted, and those well- 
meaning citizens, who, looking after their own private 
affairs well enough, do not closely study into the public 
interests, nor the mode of providing for them. That 
they leave to the City Government, with whom is the 
responsibility of delegated power. In foct, several of 
the witnesses called by the remonstrants prefaced 
their remarks by saying that they did not expect to 
be called, and obviously gave only first impressions. 
They will appreciate the street when constructed, and 
will be glad to participate in its beneflts. 

Dr. Dwight, President of Yale College, in his " Travels 
in New England " published in London in 1823, speaks 
thus of Charlestown : — 

"The streets are formed without the least regard to 
regularity." " After it was burnt, the proprietors had a 
fjiir opportunity of making it one of the most beautiful 
towns in the world. Had they thrown their property 
into a common stock ; had the whole been surveyed ; 
had they laid out the streets with the full advantage 
furnished by the ground, which might have been done 
without lessening the quantity of enclosed ground ; had 
they then taken their house-lots, whenever they chose 



MR. WAUREN'S AROUMENT. 17 

to do SO, as near their former positions as the new loca- 
tion of the streets would have permitted, — Charlestown 
would have been only heautil'ul. Its present location 
is almost only preposterous. Such a plan was, indeed, 
sufficiently a subject of conversation ; but a miserable 
mass of prejudices prevented it from being executed." 

This is an historic judgment against our ancestors. 
But it may be saiil in their favor, that, while scarcely 
recovering from the shock of the Revolution, and from 
the waste of the great conflagration, they had no 
idea nor conception of the rapid progress of this 
country, in numbers and in wealth, which awaited the 
adoption of the national constitution. But we who 
are on the swelling tide, and know the rate of pro- 
gression, are wholly without excuse if we neglect to 
use ordinary forecast. 

Our streets, in general, are like the out-stretched 
fingers of the two hands interlaced within each other, 
— short and butting against a barrier. Heretofore we 
have not suffered, on account of the open space of 
unoccupied lands. But cover all the private lands 
with buildings, and, unless your Board interpose in 
time. Charlestown will be a stilled place. 

It is a rai-schievous error to suppose that the taking 
of land to make a new street, or to widen a narrow 
one, is diminishing the taxable property of the city. 
The (juantity of land may be lessened, but the value of 



18 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

what is left on wide streets is increased. Take two 
lots on opposite sides of a thirty-feet street, each only 
seventy feet wide. They would be greatly enhanced 
by taking ten feet from the front of each, making the 
street fifty feet wide. The proprietors not only get 
the benefit of twice the land they each contribute in 
front, but the same benefit the whole length of the 
street. But as the land desired cannot be equally con- 
tributed, the betterment law comes in to equalize the 
burden. 

So, in la^'ing out a new street between prominent 
points, where everybody would wish a street if the 
land were wholly clear, no matter where such a 
street may come, — in front of some estates, or in the 
rear of others, or right through an estate, — the land on 
such a desired street is doubled, trebled, and sometimes 
quadrupled, in value. 

Thirty years ago, four tiers of house-lots were laid out 
on Lexington, Monument, and Concord Streets, 
between Bunker Hill Street and the rear of the lots 
fronting Monument Square. They were all of an 
average depth of seventy feet, bounded on the rear by 
ten-feet passage-ways. On some of these passage-ways 
tenements are erected, making on such lots an average 
depth of thirty-five feet for each house. Said an 
experienced surveyor, " In laying out city lots, have no 
ten-feet passage-Avays ; for such passage-ways will, in 
time, be built upon with a very inferior class of buildings, 
and will be a nuisance." Much greater is the nuisance. 



Mu. \v.\i:i:i:ns AiKifMioNT. lU 

and liaziinl of lire ami sickness, where tenements are 
liucklled in the rear of other houses, without a continu- 
ous passage-way, as is the case with some i)art of tiie 
hind througli which this proposed street will Ibrtu- 
nately pass. Mr. Dow testified, that, if this street is 
not to be laid oat, a conflagration would be, in the 
end, a permanent blessing. Mr. Adams says " that 
the great fire of 1835 gave us Chelsea Street, from 
City Square to its junction with Henley Street." What 
a pity the town did not have the foresight to make 
that great improvement in Chelsea Street before, and 
so stopped the fire! Is it not your duty to take warn 
ing from that example ? 

Let us now look at Main Street, filled with stores on 
each side, from this spot to far beyond Harvard Church, 
and consider how many of these stores have been 
altered from dwelling-houses, and how very few of 
them were originally built for stores. What a change 
within our own remembrance ! 

Now, who, in view of this, is to tell you how the land 
on this proposed avenue is to be improved ? with what 
buildings, and to what uses? Go a mile from here to 
Pemberton Square, all built upon within thirty years 
with elegant, firstrclass dwelling-houses, which, a few 
years since, would rent for only one thou.sand dollars : 
now they are altered into offices; and what was once 
a kitchen, or a back wash-room, rents for four or five 
hundred dollars; ami t lie whole estates arc trebled in 
value. In Pearl Street, where the Boston Athenaimn 



20 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

once was, I saw elegant, fashionable residences erected, 
which m twenty years were torn down, and gave place 
to solid, palatial warehouses. While studying my pro- 
fession, I saw a part of the granite block erected by 
Mr. P. C. Brooks, which has lately given place to the 
Sears marble building. In the heart of a busy, 
growing city, the existence of a building scarcely 
averages thirty years. Buildings for new uses, in 
different styles, and with more stories, are called for. 
The enhancement of the land pays for the change. 
Walk now for an hour in some of the streets of Boston, 
where great improvements are made or in progress, 
and you will be convinced how foolish it would be to 
hesitate on this improvement in consequence of any 
buildings in the way. Yet it is admitted this avenue 
should be laid out if the land were clear. 

But I am told this is not Boston. • True ; but this 
very spot is within a mile of the heart of Boston, and 
is right in front of the deepest and best water for 
navigation in what is called Boston Harbor. By this 
avenue, land on and near it, so central and eligible, will 
be redeemed from inferior uses, and be made to answer 
more appropriate and profitable purposes. If com- 
merce and business have been tending southward, let 
us do what we can to make property near the Mystic 
at least as conducive to employment and profit, as, ere 
long, will be the estates near the Neponset. 

Let the coming Legislature see the record of your 
adoption of this measure and exhibit to them this Pho- 



Mil. WAUUKNS AUGUMICNT. Zl 

tograpliic View, and you will be more likely to obtain 
a grant for the inuch-ilesireil Bridge Avenue to Boston. 
You might then lay a foundation for an ap])eal to the 
patriotic sentiment of the Commonwealth, which would 
overcome the opposition to removing the old laudinarks 
of the Charles-River Bridge. 

As to the need for a street of ea.sy grade from City 
Square to High Street, no stronger testimony can be 
given than that of Mr. Stowell, who remembers with 
what ditliculty, during the erection of the uiouunieut, 
those ma.ssive blocks of granite were hauled up 
Winthrop Street, and the public attention which the 
hard efforts awakened. To the other obstacles which 
attended that great undertaking, the want of a suitable 
public street in which to draw the material to its des- 
tined place was added. Ever since, persons going that 
way with loaded teams have experienced the same 
difficulty. If Mr. Goodnow's horses could speak, they 
would go for this avenue. 

It is not proposed to make it of uniforui grade from 
its commencement. The View does not so exhibit it. 
But raising the grade of Warren Street as much as 
practicable, a regular grade from that to High Street 
should be adopted; and the situation is favorable. The 
expen.se of raising buildings, and of adapting other 
streets to the new grade, will be trifling indeed com- 
pared with the great permanent advantage. What an 
improvement is the raising the grade of Water and 
Devonshire Street*:, near the site of the new post-office ; 



^^ MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

and how much more cheuply this grade of our street 
can be established ! 

Some have told jou that this measure is bipkacti- 
OABLE. If it be so, it is solely in 3'our want of inclina- 
tion to advance the public interest in this regard. The 
committee on laying out streets made a similar report 
in September, 1853, with respect to a proposition to 
alter, widen, and extend Monument Avenue, and to 
make it then worthy of its name. But, in 1868, Mayor 
Robinson declared, at a hearing before the same com- 
mittee, that the proposition ought to have been 
adopted, and that the city had lost by its not having 
been done. This judgment, formed in fifteen years 
after, only shows what you might expect would be said 
of you, were it possible that you are not going to carry 
out this plan. 

Take the house at the corner of Adams and Wiuthrop 
Streets, adjoining Rev. Mr. Miles's for example. It 
commences at a point at the corner, and gradually 
widens on Winthrop Street to about thirty feet: it is a 
commodious house, of commanding front, and with 
windows looking upon two squares. There is not a lot 
on the proposed avenue which would not afford even a 
better site. It is astonishing to find how many pleasant 
dwelling-houses in Boston cover the whole land. 
Buildings for stores are the better for running from 
street to street, having double fronts, better light and 
access. The less land, the higher the building, and 
the handsomer the front. If ouly they are on wide 



;n's aroumknt. 



23 



streets the appeiirance of a city is vastly improved, 
and the sanitary advantages are not inconsiderable. 
Ii; in the country, it is a benefaction to make two 
blades of grass grow where one grew before, it is a 
proportionate advantage in a city, so to lay out the 
streets, wide and near together, and economize space in 
lots, that the value of a square foot of land may be 
doubled or trebled. In cities, the public must have 
ample room in streets. We hear much said of " one- 
horse" towns; but the phrase, "one-avenue" towns, 
designating those which have but one principal 
thoroughftire, is equally descriptive. 

The Monument Lots, so called, are restricted to a 
high class of buildings, .set back from the front line, 
and devoted to certain uses. So much is secured for- 
ever. What becomes of that part of High Street 
fronting the Square is a matter of chance. The pro- 
posed avenue takes the only estate on this side which 
cannot be bought, and will not be improved : make this 
street, and the High-street side will conform to the 
other three, and you have a square, the effect of which, 
in the enhancement of estates in the vicinity, you can- 
not adequately appreciate. The building on the estate 
to be taken is not occupied by the owners (tenants, 
cerUiinly, will not fight for their homes against the 
city's right to open streets) ; it is of little worth : a 
price per square foot of the land, according to the true 
value, will be a satisfactory compensation to the 
owners, who are not here to object. 



24 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

With Monument and City Squares even as they are, 
is there any doubt that this avenue connecting them 
will soon be appropriately built upon, with ordinary 
precautions on your part ? We can only judge of the 
future by the past. Thirty years ago, when the monu- 
ment stood only eighty feet high, the land around rude 
and ungraded, with not a piece of a paved sidewalk 
from Main, by the way of Winthrop, to High Street, 
there was an auction of one hundred and fifteen " House- 
lots in the vicinity of the monument," of which forty- 
live were restricted. A handsome plan was exhibited, 
showing the view of the monument completed, and 
elegant blocks of lofty brick houses enclosing the 
Square. Those who purchased the restricted lots were 
told they would never live to see the monument 
finished ; and that the idea of such houses ever being 
built in Charlestown, so far from Main Street, was 
absurd : or, if two or three should be erected, they 
could be neither sold nor rented for a remunerating 
price ! Although the spirit of croaking still lives, it 
cannot be doubted, when we consider the start and 
impulse given at each end, and the greater resources 
and wealth of the city, that the ideal of the Photo- 
graphic View will be realized in a far briefer space of 
time. 

It is extremely rare that a street of this character 
can be laid out with so great economy as this. On 
City Square it takes but ten running feet of front land, 
and on High Street but thirty, making only forty feet 



MK. WARREN'S ARGUMKX'J 



25 



on the two s([iiiires ; whereas, were it not for existing 
openings, it would take one hundred and twenty feet. 
The net quantity of land taken for the whole street, 
after allowing for parts of streets discontinued, is less 
than thirty-eight thousand square feet ; whereas, if it 
went wholly through private land, it would be seventy- 
two thousand. 

This saving of land would be a perfect answer to the 
objection made to the crossing of other streets in a 
diagonal direction. But Mr. Park, in his evidence, 
stated that this diagonal crossing would be a great 
advantage in an artistic point of view, and in its better 
effect upon the surrounding property. You will re- 
member that Mr. Dow testified that he was much in 
favor of the street from the first ; but, since he heard 
Mr. Park's explanations, he was more in favor ; and 
that, if he owned the whole property, he would make 
the street at his own expense. 

Fortunately there are three rich banking corpora- 
tions owning estates on this avenue, which took their 
names from the associations connected with the spot to 
which it leads, and which derived great advantage 
thereb}-, — the Bunker Hill National Bank, the Warren 
Institution for Savings, and the Monument National 
Bank. Their corporate interests, as well as the natural 
inclinations of the corporators, would, at the proper 
time, induce such an improvement of their estates on 
the now line, as would tend to cause other proprietors to 
follow tlR-ir exauipk-. The old Bui.kiT IliU Hank was 



26 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

the first organization — tlie Monument Association 
alone excepted — which in any way recognized our 
Revolutionary history ; and its unprecedented bank-note 
circulation and financial prosperity were greatly owing 
to its GOOD NAME. It owns a valuable estate, at small 
cost, a portion of which it intends to rebuild. By con- 
tributing only forty-five square feet, it would have a 
side front whose projecting bay-windows would look 
towards the monument on one side, and Charles River 
and Boston on the other. It would pay well to make 
the alteration. This bank was promi;)t, on the 19th 
April, 1861, to advance loans to this city to aid it in 
equipping and sending on her companies to the national 
defence ; and now that it has added National to its name, 
let it, while promoting its own interests and popular 
favor, take the lead in adorning this municipal memo- 
rial. 

The stately building of the Warren Institution for 
Savings would be vastly improved. The line fortu- 
nately takes off a part of the rear projection, giving it 
a straight front, and clearing away several nuisances 
and hazardous combustible buildings. By erecting a 
new facade on this line, under their skilful architect, the 
trustees could give new front entrances to the shops 
and the Post Office, and make the offices above more 
sightly and valuable. Several of the tenants are peti- 
tioners. The building, skilfully modified, would be 
wonderfully enhanced, and would be a still more wor- 
thy memento of the great martyr whose name it bears 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. -( 

Tlio jMonuinent National Bank touclies the lino on 
the rear of its lot. Its real estate stands at nothing on 
its books. As the Hard estate adjoins, from which a 
ten-feet strip is to be taken for Park Street, and as 
the building thereon is left of little value, tiiis l)ank 
might unite with the flourishing Charlestown Five- 
Cents Savings Bank, its tenant, and erect the building 
shown on the plan. But whether the bank or the 
Hurd heirs do thi.s, the investment will be judicious and 
lucrative. The president of this bank, and .some of the 
corporators of this and the other two, are petitioners. 
The money paid for damages to the Hurd heirs for 
this and for Park Street would erect a handsome build- 
ing on the new lot, paying better than the old one. 

The land between the junction of the avenue with 
Park Street recedes back from City Square like the 
block between Harvard and Bow Streets, and like that 
in Haymarket Square, Boston, between Union and 
Blackstone Streets ; or in the smaller square between 
Brattle Street and Cornhill. These are very precious 
sites for buildings, with great advantage of space, of 
light and acces.s, worth three or four times what the 
same land would be on a single street, even if in rec- 
tangular lots. The stable of Messrs. Wiley is already 
to lose a ten-feet strip by Park Street. They can be 
compensated to a considerable degree by extending the 
new lines of Warren and Park Streets, discontinuing 
the open space, which would not be needed. This peti- 
tion was pending before they purchased ; .so they can- 



28 MI!. WARKEN'S ARGUMENT. 

not object. Cutting through the huge barn of Charles 
Hurd, which has stood so long, to the serious detriment 
of the surrounding property, would be an equal bless- 
ing to the owner and the public. Great improvement 
may be here anticipated, — any retrogression impossible. 
We need not fear that Mr. Barnard will make any 
distasteful or inappropriate use of his long frontage. 
Although a portion of his carriage-house, and his two 
brick dwelling-houses, are to be taken, he makes no 
opposition. He believes in this improvement, as men 
of his enterprise and business character generally do. 
You can satisfy Mr. Stowell by giving him a good bar- 
gain in his share of Winthrop Street discontinued, and 
in a short time he will thank us all for the great en- 
hancement of his property. In setting back the city 
armory, two wooden one-story schoolhouses are re- 
moved, which are unfit places for the children. Let 
the city not lag behind the banks ; but let it hasten to 
put a handsome front on the line, adding another story, 
with a Mansard roof, and the City Guard, the schools, 
and fire companies quartered there, will be proud of 
their new position. 

According to the first plan, the whole house of Mr. 
Waitt was to be taken to make a short fifty-feet street 
opening on Winthrop Square. But, since the opening 
of Park Street, this has become unnecessary ; as the 
object of a fine promenade is better accomplished by 
going round City Square, uj) this avenue, round Win- 
throp Square, and through Park Street. By giving Mr. 



MR. WAKUEN'S ARGUMENT. 29 

Waitt the piece of the armon' lot and passage-way be- 
tween, the whole building can be so contrived as to be 
spacious enough to command a variety of prospect 
rarely found in one lot ; so that the estate will be worth 
as much as it is now. 

The rest of that block on Winthrop Street is slightly 
damaged ; and I predict that not many years will pass 
before handsome and high buildings will be erected in 
the rear; and, either by an agreed change of lines 
among the owners, or by an architectural arrangement 
of the sites as they are, by circular fronts or otherwise, 
the sharp angles are made to disappear in the interior 
disposition of the apartments. In crossing the estates 
on either side of Soley Street, there are only one or 
two which are almost entirely taken : the greater part 
will be sufficient for house-lots equal to the average of 
those in Boston of the same or higher class, and bet- 
tered by being on an avenue of twice the width of the 
street on which they now are. The residue will have 
valuable strips, which may be put together, or joined to 
the rear land. Private interest and gain will adapt all 
the parcels to the street, so as to be made most availa- 
ble. 

By taking the Sturtevant estate, you emerge into 
the pure air of the monument grounds, and, behold ! the 
way is clear: the two squares are united, and the 
work is done. It may take some time for 30U to 
arrange all the details of negotiation or assessment ; 
but the experience you have had as to Park Street and 
Crafts Corner will better .>ihow you how to do it ; and 



30 



WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 



for the cai-e and pains the duty may impose, you will 
have the well-earned reward of the public grati- 
tude. 

The net cost of the whole at first was estimated at 
$100,000. But this estimate included the fifty-feet 
street to Winthrop Square, and did not include cer- 
tain additional parts of Soley and Warren Streets, 
which, by careful study and examination, it is found 
should be discontinued. The net cost now, we find, 
cannot exceed sixty or seventy thousand dollars. Call 
it 175,000, at the outside; and the interest at six per 
cent, on a loan for twenty years, would be $4,500. 
Suppose hereafter our rate of taxes should be fifteen 
dollars on $1,000 (for this improvement will reduce the 
rate) ; then it will require an increase of valuation of 
$300,000 to pay that interest. Will the avenue cause 
this increase? On Monument Street, extended from 
Bunker Hill to Medford Streets, you will get it. It will 
be almost a straight line from the Mystic to the Charles ; 
and the monument, towering up between, will make 
the distance on either side appear wonderfully short. 
The natural advantages of this location, for elevation, 
water-prospect, and rural view, cannot be equalled in 
this region ; and the character of the buildings to be 
erected depends upon the laying-out of this avenue. 

There will be an increase of taxable property to 
more than that amount on High Street, and that sec- 
tion bordering thereon as far as Salem Street. Monu- 
ment Court will be vastly improved, and the lower 



MR. WAURKN'S ARGUMENT. 



31 



part of Solcy Street also. Owners in both these places 
are petitioners. 

Another element, suggested by Mr. Turrey, is the 
personal property, subject to a tax, to be brought by 
persons attracted here by this improved access to our 
best lands. Here, again, experience teaches us. Dur- 
ing the last twenty years, I have known many instances 
of persons of large means, who were almost persuaded 
to build and live here, but who could not overcome 
their objections to the disagreeable approaches to those 
situations, which, when reached, they acknowledged to 
be most delightful. Then, again, persons who huvc 
bought and lived on Monument Square have sold, and 
moved away, whose united personal tax would pa\' the 
interest required. Considering all these consequences, 
the question seems to be, not whether this avenue will 
pay, but, rather, whether the city, in justice to its inter- 
ests, as well as to its character, can aflbrd any longer 
to delay it ? 

In putting the cost at $75,000, no allowance has 
been made for betterments of estates on streets adjoin- 
ing: these will reduce that amount. I will not stop to 
meet the objection of Mr. Lovitt, that assessments for 
these betterments cannot be collected : it is presumed 
that this Board is competent to do its duty. 

The first cost of Monument Avenue and its exten- 
sion was less than $25,000 ; the interest on which is 
81,500, which a tax on $100,000 mure tliau [iiiys. The 



32 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 



enhancement of values on this street and beyond, with- 
out the betterment law, has been more than double 
that amount ; and keeping an account with the cost 
and interest, and with the increase of taxes received 
from the enhancement, Monument Avenue has paid for 
itself. So says the witness, Mr. T. G. Frothingham : so 
say all of us. Now, the printed table before you shows 
what the money paid and to be paid by the Association 
will amount to in twenty years from 1870, if funded at 
seven per cent interest, payable annually, — a rate below 
what our banks receive. 

We know well enough, a "bargain is a bargain;" 
and the money will be paid. But is it conscionable 
in the city of Charlestovvn to receive this money 
from our patriotic Society without rendering a sat- 
isfactory equivalent, when this can be done in the 
way we ask, and the interests of the city can be pro- 
moted thereby ? Monument Avenue is not the avenue 
we asked for in 1 84 i" : it was laid out, with a mistaken 
economy, only forty feet wide, and one side of the 
monument, looking more to the interest of the land- 
owner. Though a good local street, it is not the ave- 
nue from Boston; nor is it the one for our own people. 
If this fund is not thought to be large enough to meet 
the loan in twenty years, add a little to it from the 
betterment money. 

Let no one, however, laugh at these useful sinking- 
funds. The credit of Massachusetts and of Boston is 
strengthened by them, and posterity is relieved. It is 
an old approved way to pay new debts incurred. Let 



Mi:, WARRKN-S ARGUMKNT. 33 

Cliarlcstown Cdiiiiiieiice tlic system with this splendid 
avenue, and hereafter, as new enterprises are author- 
ized, plant the seed for the payment of the cost. 

It has been suggested that you apjjly to this work 
the money due from the Water -Works for interest on 
the water-loan, paid by taxation. How fitting it would 
be to employ the money returned from the success of 
one great improvement to the commencement of 
another! As this can never be done more cheaply than 
now, so you will readily (iad the ways and means to 
do it. 

The route proposed was the one pointed out by 
Dr. William J. Walker, a native of Charlestowu. as the 
one that should be adopted, soon after the monument was 
commenced. As soon as the Association saw that the 
forty-feet avenue to Main Street would not be the thing 
desired, they turned their attention to this route, but 
waited until all matters connected with the former ne- 
gotiation were properly adjusted. In 1867, the presi- 
dent, in his annual address, reported that a plan and a 
survey of this route were to be made, and a petition to 
be addressed to your Board to lay out a suitable avenue 
in conformity therewith. That report was unanimously 
accepted, and ordered to be printed. The petition was 
presented, and a hearing had. In 1868, report was made 
thereon by the president, and a vote was unanimously 
passed that the president should prosecute that petition, 
with the proviso, in.serted at his suggestion, that the 
avenue should be at no cost to the Association : that 



34 MK. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

the city might distinctly understand that the Associa- 
tion would pay no more annuities beyond the existing 
agreement. At the last meeting, the president reported 
that the matter was referred to this Board, and that 
there was hope that the measure would be accomplished 
the present year; and he was again authorized and 
requested to take all possible means to present to your 
attention their petition as fully and fairly as possible. 

While Park Street was put through upon no petition 
whatever, but on an Order submitted by Alderman Dow ; 
while Warren Street was widened, and the buildings at 
the junction with Main Street removed without any 
petition (although there was a petition of a few citi- 
zens to go back farther to a line with Church Court, 
bringing the Universalist Church in view, and giving to 
it a better access), both which measures I believe to be 
justifiable, — the Monument Association, impelled by 
public and patriotic considerations, and deeming their 
duty yet unperformed in this regard, have been at 
greater expense and labor in preparing surveys, plans, 
estimates, tabular statements, views, and in other inci- 
dental matters, than have ever before been any other 
petitioners to any Municipal Board of Charlestown. 
They propose, farther, to place before you in permanent 
form, in order to assist your deliberations, some of the 
grounds already stated orally, upon which they feel 
bound to press their claim. 

This year, petitioners many and influential have 
sprung to our aid. It is one thing, Mr. Mayor, for tax- 



Mil. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 35 

payers to request yt)u uniler their own hands to incur 
a large expenditure, and ((uite another thing for others 
to sign a remonstrance to the same. The former are 
supposed to act upon examination and judgment ; the 
others may act from private interest, personal favor, or 
prejudice. Your attention having been called as to the 
wishes of those on Monument Square, I find, from the 
assessors' books, that, of the owners of estates on the 
four sides of the Square, a majority, both in number and 
in the taxed valuation, are petitioners, and only three 
liave recorded their names as remonstrants ; and of these, 
two, singularly enough, have recently purchased, and 
their grantors are petitioners; and I believe that these 
two will soon be with us. Of the others, they are from 
every ward ; showing that the improvement is by no 
means local, but in the largest sense municipal, and, in- 
deed, national. You will find the solid men, men of great 
enterprise, builders, professional men, clergymen, law- 
yers, architects, and engineers, and the promising young 
men of the city: many of them are representative 
men, the types and the hope of the city's progress. 
Our enterprising post-master and the majority of our 
public press go with us. 

The remonstrants are no more than might be ex- 
pected : some of them do not profess to be citizens nor 
tax-payer.s. I believe that the non-resident petitioners 
would about balance, in their taxes, all the remon- 
strants, leaving out tliose whose land is to be taken. 
One of these statL-d to vou tiiat .several to whom the 



36 MR. wareen's argument. 

remonstrance was presented had refused to sign ; and 
it is a very creditable thing to the city, tliat, with all 
the effort and exaggerated statement of cost, so few 
have remonstrated. 

The witnesses of the petitioners were men who had 
studied the subject, and spoke from positive knowledge : 
Mr. Dow, who has marked with his improvements the 
whole line from the top of Harvard Hill through the 
Square to Front Street, and whose tax is probably the 
largest; Mr. Park, the travelled architect and artist, who 
has for a long time paid special attention to the effect 
of this street ; Mr. Torrey, who first gave an estimate 
upon assumed distances and areas, which did not wholly 
apply, but, at the next meeting, you remember, he re- 
affirmed his opinion as applied to the exact locality ; and 
the printed statement of Mr. J. H. Rand the architect, 
who built the block in Soley Street, and who superin- 
tended the bank building of the Warren Institution for 
Savings are referred to. 

The testimony on the other side was that of those 
who will be claimants for damages. The rest were 
doubtful merely : they were not experts in any sense ; 
nor have they been to any extent engaged in building. 

Of the objections urged in argument, not yet glanced 
at, the most alarming was that against straight, cannon- 
hall streets. Need we fear such danger from this ave- 
nue, to be only five times the length of the monument, 
and twice its breadth ? We will take the risk, Mr. 



MK. WAliUKNS AKGUMENT. -it 

Mayor. Time was, in Paris, wlien the ])opiilace would 
tear up the pavements and light with them : hence the 
emperor ordered the streets to be macadamized. Must 
we, therefore, have paved streets where we live ? Be- 
cause the emperor made wide streets and boulevards 
for his subjects, shall not you, on behalf of the people, 
provide them? Even the blind preacher, Millburn, 
when in Paris, could, through his remaining senses, feel 
the elevation of spirit, and the exaltation of soul and 
of character, when under such influences. Look at 
Chicago, with her straight streets seven miles long. 
Read the evidence of Dr. Holmes, and the forcible arti- 
cles of Mr. Elizur Wright, and you will learn the real 
dangers against which it is your duty to guard. 

We, who have been a long while accustomed to 
crooked ways, are not aware of the antipathy which 
strangers feel. As om* senses become blunted, character 
may, in course of time, be affected. The injunction, 
"Make your paths straight," is as old as Holy Writ. 
The judgment which Dr. Dwight passed upon our an- 
cestors still hangs over us, and threatens us more and 
more as population advances. 

It is proposed to give us a route by Park Street and 
through Winthrop Square. But Mr. Hull says that 
Park Street was intended in no way as a substitute for 
ours. It goes in another direction. At its terminus, 
you do not see the monument, nor would you on such 
a street for tiie whole distance on either sidewalk. 
You would spoil, to n(j purpose, what may lie a l)eauti- 



38 MR. WAUKEN'S ARGUMENT. 

fill square. We ask for a lish, and they would have 
you give us a serpent. 

Then it is suggested that monuments should be in a 
retired nook or corner not easily seen ; and in the 
next breath you are exhorted to erect a soldiers' monu- 
ment. As the learned counsel spoke somewhat in dero- 
gation of the Bunker Hill Monument and the cause 
it represents, and somewhat more in depreciation of the 
patriotic utterances of that great orator, as contrasted 
with the stirring events and eloquent men of our day^ 
it must have occurred to you, that, if it be indeed true 
that this generation were coming to lose the veneration 
due to the jjrinciples and heroism of our Revolutionary 
fathers, with what feelings of neglect or aversion may 
not the next generation regard the monument you pro- 
pose to erect to our soldiers ? The counsel regretted 
that he did not hear the masterly and unanswerable 
ai'gument of Mr. Wheildon. If he had heard it, he 
would have toned and tempered his speech so as to 
have kept to the dignity of the subject. But he was 
speaking for his clients ; and he could not have uttered 
their mature convictions even, but rather the logical 
deductions from their false position of hostility to the 
great object the petitioners have in view. 

If they had said the thing was magnificent, indeed, 
but utterly beyond your power; that the city was too 
POOR to start what in the end would pay, and the ac- 
complishment of which, we believe, would establish the 
credit of the city more firmly, — they might have 



MR. WARREN'S AROUMENT. 39 

keenly woiimled your ])ri(l(>, and th;i( of your fellow- 
citizens, but they would have attested some appreciation 
on their part of a splendid design. 

It will not do to deride tusthetic culture. We 
need not wonder that Monument and Winthrop 
Squares are sometimes treated with contumely ; 
that the enclosure of City Square is kept neat 
and trim only ijecause it is under lock and key ; 
lliat this new City Hall is already defaced with marks; 
and that fences and buildings are injured, — when 
we have so long kept the most glorious memorial the 
sun ever .shone upon, hid from tiie public view, as a 
light from a golden candlestick under a bushel. Nor 
need we wonder at some who say, " If any strangers 
come, they can .«;omehow find the way to the monu- 
ment. We want no new way to it." Open this 
avenue, and 3 ou remove a thick vkil. 

Let me quote the words of Mr. Park : — 

" By the opening of this avenue, the grand propor- 
tions of this famous memorial will at once present 
themselves to view from the principal entrance into 
the city, and, together with the picturesqueness of the 
street arrangement, will produce the most impressive 
city view in this country, and one not excelled by any 
in the world. 

"Seldom is it that a monument placed as this one is, 
upon the very site of the battle-ground itself, has so 
commanding a position, standing as it does on a hill, — 
Bunker Hill. By the consummation of this project, it 



40 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

will be relieved of all intervening objects, and be bared 
from base to suuunit, in all its grandeur, against the sky 
for a background." 

Art promotes art ; one tasteful building provokes 
another ; and disagreeable sights disappear. Open 
this avenue, and soo.n, by voluntary efforts, the sug- 
gestion of Gen. Dana will be carried out ; and you will 
see the statue of John Winthrop standing in front, 
with his face turned southward to the noble metrop- 
olis, and his hand pointing to that pillared Mount 
of Sacrifice which transformed the colony he founded 
into an independent State. The Monument Square 
shall be adorned as our means may permit, in the best 
manner that art and taste can suggest. When all this 
shall be done, whoever shall speak of Bunker Hill 
Monument will connect it with the Grand Avenue you 
have laid out, which will have a fame not inferior to 
that of the Corso of Rome, the Strada Reale of 
Naples, the Rue de la Paix of Paris, or the Unter den 
Linden of Berlin. 

Do you wish to realize all this for the city under your 
care ? Lay out this avenue, and the work is half done. 
Incipere est cUmidium. To begin is half. 

Do you suppose, Mr. Mayor, if it had been foreknown 
in the spring of 1825 that it would be eighteen years 
from the laying of the corner-stone to the raising of the 
cap-stone, that they would have postponed the com- 
mencement of the work ? Had the projectors allowed 



MR. WAUUKN'S ARGUMENT. 41 

tlio pupular title of tlit- hiiU-ccritLiiy iiiiniver.sary and of 
Lafayette's visit to subside without eflbrt, think you 
the monument would now have been built? 

Tlic place where Webster stood, on the 17th June, 
1825, with the people around him, and the place where 
that historic scene of 1843 transpired, are both covered 
with dwellings. Hereafter the popular gatherings on 
great occasions will be on the beautiful slope on the 
southerly side, stretching down your other streets, and 
down this avenue to City Square. Prepare now for the 
great cextexxi.al. 

Let me remind you of the obligations this city is 
under to the Bunker Hill Monument Association. For 
fifty years the field of Bunker Hill was private land. 
The founders of that association, in executing their 
great work, contributed more service than all the un- 
paid labor of the municipal governments of Charlestown 
and Boston during the time. 1 need not recall the 
names of Webster and Everett, of Brooks and Lincoln, 
of Willard and Russell, of Baldwin and Dearborn, of 
Tudor and Perkins, of Amos and Abbott Lawrence, of 
Prcscott and Buckingham, of Wales and Darracott, 
of Wells and Thorndike, and of scores of others, whose 
names are identified with this monument. 

All the advantage of their labors is your.s. Look at 
Tufts' Plan of Charlestown in 1818, and observe how 
much consideration is due for the streets and lots laid 



42 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

out by thein on land .siuTendered back to private use. 
Your valuation of that land as now improved is over 
one million. The wise restrictions on the lots facing 
the square have saved Charlestown from being a wood- 
en cit}'. Recognize, City Fathers, this obligation, and 
uncover the everlasting crown of the city. 

The Cumaean sibyl, as we read the early history of 
Borne, presented to the king nine books, for which a 
high price was demanded. The offer rejected, she 
burned three, and presented the six for the same price. 
Again rejected, she burned three more, and returned 
again with the remaining three, demanding for them 
the same price she first asked for the nine. The last 
offer was accepted ; and the sibylline books were pre- 
served, cherished, and consulted by those who governed 
Eome for five hundred years. From this singular his- 
tory, or fible, we take this extract of ancient wisdom : 
that, in the foundation of cities or of States, whatever is 
clearly desirable for the public welfare shoirld be at 
once secured, or afterwards necessity will compel the 
purchase of a part for as much, or more, even, than the 
whole would have cost at first. 

The Bunker Hill Monument Association now again, 
and for the third and critical time, advocate their peti- 
tion. They are joined by an array of citizens, who, in 
asking you to grant it, are convinced that the city's own 
interests will be greatly advanced. The Association 
represent that silent Oiiatou, whose influence may be 



MR. WAKKEN'S ARGUMENT. 43 

made to hi'conio more potent by far than any sil)yl 
or deity of heathen mythology, as it may be viewed 
by the masses, whether in tlie day of jubilee, of national 
disaster, or in the quiet evcrj'-day life of undisturbed 
avocation. It pleads to you, as you may gaze upon it 
from that favored window in the broad glare of lunar 
light, that you shall no longer suffer it to be shut out 
from the daily view of the busy throng, but that you 
will open up to it the desired avenue, that it may 
speak to the popular heart, and that its visible pres- 
ence, bursting upon the thousands on thousands as they 
pass through this square, renowned as the seat of the 
early settlement, may remind them of the liberty and 
glory of their countrj^ and of what that country expects 

of TIIEM. 

Mr. Mayor, I greatly envy you and each of your as- 
sociates, in this your opportunity. All that most of us 
can hope will be said of our humble efforts, is that we 
served, or attempted to serve, well our day and genera- 
tion. But you, gentlemen, have it in your power, by 
taking measures to secure this improvement now, and 
to provide for its accomplishment the coming year, not 
only to serve this generation, but to make all posterity 
your debtor. The beneficent, all-pervading influences 
of this act of consummate forecast will endure as long 
as that world-renowned obeli.sk shall stand on yon 
famous height, keeping company with the sun and the 
heavenly star.s, ever telling those who here shall enjoy 



44 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 



civil and religious liberty how to appreciate their birth- 
right ; as long as Bunker Hill and Faneuil Hall, brought 
by this in closer communication, shall be associated with 
the birth of the great American Republic on the bright 
page of the world's instructive history. 




IsT O T E S. 



Dr Dwight's Strictures. - Kvery one now acknowledges their force ; 
and itisadmittc.1 that the town should have been re,n,larly laid out after 
the Revolution. Yet now this avenue can be laid out, and one or two other 
streets straightene-l and extended, with as Hale relative cost There »s now an 
occupation and a business connected with the terr.tory that woald prompt 
an immediate improvonent and adaptation. Charlestown ,s yet young, com- 
pared with the places of the Old World, and just beg.nnmg to develop .t3 
local advantages, which are unsurpassed. 

AxxTTAL Payments. -Tlie annual payments made and to be made by 
the Association will, if regularly invested, amount to fifty thousand dollars 
in twenty years, or enough to pay the net debt to be incurred, betterments 
beyond the street being deducted. 

The Bridge Avenue. -When the charter for Warren Bridge was 
..ranted, the directors of the Corporation applied to their fellow-cUizen, Col. 
Lammi Baldwin, who stood at the head of his profession c,vd engmeers 
for a plan. With great care and study he prepared one, to be of stone piers 
and a'rches,witha stoneor iron superstructure^ be ^---^ wUh gravel 
of the width of eighty feet, with a circular br.dge and draw, enclo..ng a 
basin for the reception of vessels, so that there ^^S^^' ^.^^^V'^Zj 
travel at the draw. This bridge might then have been bmlt for 8120,000 
and, when built, would have required no repairs. 0°«°f ''-'''.■••=•= ""-f" 
eco;omical man-returned the plan, and sai.l to Col. Baldwin '' ^^e n- 
tond, colonel, to build a bridge of wood, for four years' ">^"-» «" "J^ 
yours will cost."-"No doubt." replied the colonel, " you can do it but 
how long will such a wooden structure la^tf" So we find out now afte^ 
more than half a million of .lolUrs have been expen.led, an.l a great part 
wasted, that his plan, for economy and for public convenience, .s now wante.i. 
The extension of Washington Street to ILiymarket ^-^^^'^l^^ 
wide bridge, wi.h no detention a. the draws; and the avenue to the monu- 



Col. Baldwin made the first plan and estimate for the Monument ; and he 
illustrated to the Committee, of wliloh he was Chairman, how superior the 
view and approach to the Monument would be from a diagonal direction, 
showing two sides of the obelisk, by setting up a shingle, cut in the shape of 
the front, which he said would be the appeai'ance from a rectangular 
direction, showing but one side. 

Tenants wili, not fight for their homes. — Alluding to the elo- 
quent remark of counsel, that " our fathers fought to protect their homes." 
As if that was an ai-gument against a street ! 

The View of 1839. — At the time this view was exhibited, showing 
the monument completed and the square handsomely built upon, the work 
on the monument was not only suspended, but the Association was embar- 
rassed, and there was no prospect of completion. The ladies' fair in 1840 
finished the work. The expectation that this avenue will be handsomely 
built upon in a very short time is far more reasonable than the hope then 
held out in relation to the monument and Monument Square. 

The Cost. — That the cost can, by proper exertions, be made to come 
within the statements of the petitioners can be easily demonstrated. 

sCannon-Ball Streets. — Alluding to the remark of Napoleon, quoted 
in the case, " That cannon-balls go in a straight line." As it that was the 
only or the best reason for laying out straight streets in a city ! 

That Historic Scene. — The painting by John Pope, representing 
Mr. Webster delivering the address on the completion of the monument, 
which stood in front of the speaker, was presented to the city by Mr. Warren, 
on behalf of the subscribers, in 1853, as a suitable memorial of the great 
statesman and orator. 

The proposed Statde to John Winthrop. — The " Great House," 
where Governor Winthrop is supposed to have first unrolled the Colonial 
Charter before the Council, is on City Square ; and the proper position for 
the Statue, as indicated in the argument, would be near, if not on the precise 
spot, where he then stood. When this avenue is constructed, it would be an 
easy matter for the people of Charlestown and Boston — both which places 
he founded — to raise the necessarj- funds, by Ladies' Fairs, or by voluntary 
subscription-, to erect this desired Monumental Statue, which would be well- 
placed as it is merited. 

The Favored Window. — The window from the Council Chamber, in 
which the argument was delivered, in the third story of City Hall, gives 
the finest view of the monument to be had in Charlestown, or anywhere 
else, except from the harbor. This view, not now enjoyed by the multitude, 
the avenue wiU give to all who cross City Square. 



ABSTRACT OF EVIDENCE. 



William S. Park of Boston, Architect, hadvisitotl foi- 
ei.ru countries, and spoke in favor of the widening and 
laying out streets in general and also as to the benefits 
to be°accrued in this particular instance. He had been 
in Europe, and through the principal cities of America; 
but had never seen a structure which was so imposing 
■IS this would be rendered by the proposed avenue. 

In laying out cities so that the greatest advantage 
may be gained by the combination of utility and beauty, 
two systems present themselves for the general arrange- 
ment of streets. First, a system by which all the streets 
are made to cross each other at right angles, and another 
by which they are made to diverge from, and converge 
to certain points of marked interest. Some cities are 
planned wholly upon the first principle, while others 
are arranged upon the other ; that is to say, while some 
streets, or districts of streets, indeed cross at right angles, 
the main effort is to concentrate attention upon perma- 
nent landmarks and centres of business by direction of 
n.ain avenues to and from those points. While the first- 
nauicd principle of arran..euK-nt oilers, peibap.s perlect 



48 ABSTRACT OF EVIDENCE. 

advantages to the transaction of business, but can claim 
nothing of picturesque beauty, a city arranged after 
the other plan loses no business facilities ; and, by care- 
fully designing structures to suit their locations, here 
and there appropriating bits of ground at the sharpest 
street-angles for the site of flower-gardens, trees, and 
fountains, is filled with delightful street-views. In the 
former case, a building standing upon a corner gains 
but very little advantage over any other by its position 
in the street-view, as it cannot be seen until approached 
quite near ; whereas in cases where the streets are forked, 
or cross each other obliquely, as frequently occur in the 
latter arrangement, buildings placed at the angles may 
be seen from quite a distance, and become conspicuous 
objects in the view. 

In applying the foregoing named principles to the 
proposed avenue from City Square to the monument, 
it is plain this undertaking comes under the second- 
named system of arrangement. Here is an object of 
great historical and aesthetic interest, without any direct 
and handsome approach, and which can he seen from no 
Ijoint in the city under the advantageous circumstances 
it deserves. By the opening of this avenue, the grand 
proportions of this famous memorial will at once pre- 
sent themselves to view from the principal entrance 
into the city, and, together with the picturesqueness of 
the street arrangeiaent, will produce the most impres- 
sive city-view in this country, and one not excelled by 
any in the world. 

Seldom is it that a muuuiuent placed as this one is, 



AltSTUACT OF KVIDENCE. 49 

upon the very site of the hattle-groiind itself, has so 
coinmandiug a position, standing as it does on a hill, — 
Bunker Hill. By the consummation of this j^roject, it 
will be relieved of all intervening objects, and be bared 
from base to summit, in all its grandeur, against the sky 
for a background. The immediate construction of this 
avenue would have the effect to insure the extension of 
Washington Street in Boston to Haymarket Square, 
and a change of the location of Charles River Bridge 
to a line parallel and adjacent to Warren Bridge, mak- 
ing of the two bridges one spacious avenue to Boston. 

Moses A. Dow said he had signed the petition for 
the general benefit of Charlestown. He was strongly 
in favor of this street from the first ; but, since he 
heard Mr. Park's explanations as to the effect of 
diagonal street-crossings, he was more in favor than ever 
before. Unquestionably the street ought to be laid out. 
If this street were laid out, a great amount of Jand which 
is now I'ear lots would become front ones. Better 
buildings would be placed thereon, and the danger 
from fire would be much less. 

He considered that not only should this street be 
laid out, of easy grade, but all the property in the vi- 
cinity of Park, Chelsea, and Henley Streets should be 
raised for the health and comfort of the residents and 
the value of property. This street must some time be 
laid out, and delay was expensive. Every foot of land 
in the city would be raised in value by this improve- 
ment lie considered that the improvements in City 



50 ABSTRACT OF EVIDENCE. 

Square had increased the valuation of Charlestown more 
than one milHon dollars. The present occupation of 
the territory has an injurious effect upon surrounding 
property. A fire would be a benefit to the neighbor- 
hood, if the street were not laid out. 

Everett Torrey said he considered the street should 
be laid out for the general interest of Charlestown. 
What Charlestown wants is broad avenues. Here was 
a good chance to inaugurate such a policy, at trifling 
cost compared with the benefits. He gave some esti- 
mates, not based upon the dimensions of the street, but 
upon the subject in a general sense, in which the value 
of property would be much improved. 

The following testimony given at the hearing before 
the Board last year was also submitted : — 

James H. Rand, Esq., Architect, testified that the 
enhanced value of the estates would be very great, even 
more than Mr. Buchanan had estimated ; so that the 
cost would be less than his estimate. He thought that 
the general advancement of property in the vicinity 
would fully compensate for the making of this street, 
even though it should cost double the estimates. He 
had examined the whole plan, and believed that all 
the land upon the street, even the triangular pieces, 
could be used to advantage, and be worth vastly more 
than they now are. This street would be of an easier 
grade ; so that access to High Street would be much 
improved for the benefit of the heavy travel. He was 



ABSTIIACT OK KVIUENCE. 51 

in iavor of making tlie ivvenue even sixty leet wide, so 
as to show the monuinont in the centre from Warren 
Bridge. The city could not make anywhere so great 
an improvement us this. Most of the streets are irregu- 
hir; and it is very important that wide and straight 
avenues be hiid out, so as to bring the hind into tlie 
most profitable use. 

Estimates of cost, plans, and photographic views, were 
presented and explained. 

In accordance with the suggestion of Mr. Rand, and 
of the petitioners generally, the petition and plans are 
for a sixty-feet avenue, instead of lifty feet, as befoi'e 
proposed. 



- [From The Charlestown Advertiser.] 

THE NEW STREET TO THE MONUMENT. 



As a part of the proposed improvements, not only 
desirable, but deemed in the progress of events abso- 
lutely essential for the interests of Charlestown, is the 
straight and broad avenue from City Square to the 
monument, the centre of the avenue being in a line 
with the centre of the monument. The adoption of 
this measure by our City Council the present year will 
have great weight with the Counnon Council ol' Boston 
in confirming the extension of Washington Street to 
Haymarket Square, as already decided by the aldermen 
of that city. It will have none the less weight with 
the Legislature next January, when it shall be invoked 
to authorize the consolidating of the two bridge ave- 
nues to Boston into one magnificent highway over 
Charles River, having two circular routes over the 
channel, with draws for the passage of vessels, so ar- 
ranged that the travel may pass over the one or the 
other without interruption. 

If Charlestown shall do its part, and open the avenue 
to the monument, and if the other two projects be 
carried out. Washim;toii Street, Irom its commencement 



THE NKW STREET TO THE MONUMENT. 53 

at tliu suiitlieniuiost limit ol' l>o.ston, would k'ati diiuc-tly 
to the finest niomimeut in the world, tiie superb view 
of which would be enjoyed by the traveller as he 
passes over the bi'idge, before he enters upon the 
limits of Charlestown. The effect of this will not only 
be to afford infinite pleasure and delight in beholding a 
magnificent object of architecture — unequalled any- 
where in the world — but it will give great practical 
value find appreciation to all the property extending 
on and beyond High Street to the top even of old 
Bunker Hill. 

The remark is often made, that there are a great 
many pleasant situations in Charlestown still unim- 
proved, and also elegant residences not yet able to com- 
mand their relative intrinsic value in the market, be- 
cause there is no suitable and pleasant access to them. 
There is not a handsome, direct, and well-graded street 
to our highlands; and all these lands — some of which 
are the finest in this vicinity — are greatly depreciated 
on this account. 

The proposed avenue meets the great public want. 
Commencing at the centre of the northerly side of 
City Square, the opening for which is now nearly pro- 
vided, its whole length to High Street is but twelve 
hundred feet. But. as it passes ovei- existing ways, its 
course over private lands is but ten hundred and fifty 
feet. The avenue, being twelve hundred feet long by 
sixty wide, requires seventy-two thousand .'square feet ; 
by discontinuing parts of streets that will not be re- 
• (iiired. and deducting the ciossiugs, tlie (juaulity of 



54 THE NEW STREET TO THE MONUMENT. 

private land that will be taken for this purpose will be 
about thirty-eight thousand square feet, or but two 
thousand more than one-half of the whole area. 

But the cheapness and economy with which this 
avenue can now be laid out are more strikingly appar- 
ent when we compare the present occupation of the 
land, and the character of the buildings upon it, with 
the first-class improvements which would inevitably be 
made as soon as this avenue is constructed. It would 
be impossible to suppose that a wide and well-graded 
avenue, extending from City Square to the monument, 
would not command for every foot of its frontage more 
than double or treble the price which the same land 
would now bring in its present condition. 

By several independent estimates made by competent 
judges, the net cost to the city of laying out and con- 
structing this avenue, allowing for betterments only on 
the two sides thereof, would be about sixty thousand 
dollars. One-half, at least, of this sum might be assessed, 
under the betterment law, upon the estates extending 
beyond. The whole aggregate cost would be realized 
to the city in seven years, in substantial enhancement 
of values, in increase of business, and the erection of a 
better class of buildings. 

Compared with this improvement, the extension of 
Park Street, and the widening at Crafts' Corner, al- 
though in themselves important and to be approved, 
sink into utter insignificance. They have their 
advantages; but the benefit is circumscribed to a com- 
paratively small locality. This avenue, however, is lor 



THE NEW STREET TO THE MONUMENT. 00 

the benefit of the wliole chy. Lying wholly- in Wmxl 
One, it is vastly for the benefit of Wards Two and 
Three. It will greatly promote the convenience of 
those who travel in vehicles, or who labor with loaded 
teams; while all citizens and travellers will have the 
advantage of a better access and a commanding view. 
The whole city, indeed, will be crowned with an orna- 
ment unsurpassed, whose matchless beauty may bo 
seen as it cannot bo now from any street or pul)lic 
[)lace within tlie city limits. 




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